My summer rant or It's just not fair. . . (WARNING: Excessive whining)

For centuries black folk have been persecuted, enslaved and discriminated against. Why? Because of the color of their skin.

The color of their skin, caused by melanin. Melanin, protection against the harmful rays of the sun.

And yet. . . I burn. The rest of my immediate family turns a delightful nutty brown after an afternoon in the sun. I turn red. My face gets all tight and painful to the touch. It’s not fair, I tell you!

use sunscreen, and you won’t turn so pink pink. :wink:
i’m fair to olive skinned, and i don’t burn easy. must be all that Israeli blood in me.

There’s always “tan in a can!”

It’s cheating, but who has to know?

Of course I should use sunscreen. I’m not trying to tan. It’s the unfairness of it all! Why do I have to use sunscreen?

And the ease with which I burn. We were not at the beach, we were at an amusement park, amusing ourselves. My Puerto Rican relatives don’t burn either. I am the only one. Why, oh why?

…and move to the 18th century! Back then, pale skin was a sign that you were a member of the upper class(no tan= no sun exposure = no need to work outdoors). In fact, ladies would m powder their skin, so as to look even paler!
Maybe we should revive this bit of snobbery-certainly healthier than gettin skin cancer!

I would do that, but I have a problem being a slave. Did I mention that I was black? Upper class indeed!

Look on the bright side, Pink. At least it takes your melanin enriched skin a whole afternoon to crisp. Takes my damned Irish skin a whole 20 minutes. Literally. I wear a 45 SPF sunblock. And I STILL tan through that.

My department went on one of those horrid teaming events where they stick you in the middle of the woods with a compass and you find your way out. The next day was my day to volunteer at the low income pre-school in town. While reading an African American girl a story, she turned all the way around and stared at me. “Why do you have a brick-nose?” asks young Jamila, completely without malice. “Because I was outside all day yesterday and didn’t put sunblock on. So now I look like Rudolf.” My explaination contented her for a while, and we finished the book. She hoped off my lap and ran to get another one. It was a book on rocks. She was flipping through it when she found a picture of a bright red rock, which she proudly pointed to and announced “Hey! That looks like your brick-nose!” Laughed my ass off when I got home that night.